Summer Games Challenge 2018 - begin when ready!

[pierrot]

-Zero Gunner 2 (Switch)

I love this game--it's easily my favorite Psikyo shmup--but most people barely know the developer, and have never heard of the series, let alone Zero Gunner 2. It pains me to say it, but not even remotely a classic. I hope you enjoy it, though. I can't imagine it plays very well on the Swtich, considering how the rotation, and vacuuming mechanics are pretty tailor made for the arcade stick layout. Are there arcade sticks for the Switch?

-God Hand (PS2)

Oof, I'd give you this one, only because it actually had a best seller rerelease in Japan, but--. I'm definitely starting with Killer7 this year. >_>

And do people actually like God Hand?

Dunpeal has always had great things to say about it. I wish I had it, anyway. It seems like a riot.

3) Panzer Dragoon Zwei (Saturn) - I don’t know how I’ve never gotten around to beating this given that Orta is possibly my favorite Xbox game.

Wow, I can't believe that either. Zwei is my absolute favorite of the on-rails Panzer Dragoon games. It felt the most cinematic, and complete to me. Exceptional soundtrack, and final boss, also.

[Key-Glyph]

I've been plugging away at Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego? and have definitely been promoted further than any other time I've played the game. Right now I'm at the Jr. Tracker rank, having solved 21 cases. I don't know how many ranks there are, but I'm not looking that information up; I want to just enjoy the ride and not fixate on sprinting through to a finish line. I think that's the more authentic experience with the game, since I don't believe any of the pack-in materials outline or even allude to its length. One day I'm just going to gasp as my warrant calculates the target is Carmen herself -- and then it's on!

I thought I'd tell the story of how I acquired the pieces to this game, because it's got some tasty retro elements to it. What happened is this: Sometime in the late 1990s my mom's boss said to her, "Hey, I'm getting rid of this old Carmen Sandiego game. You think your daughter might want it?" I was so excited about this because I'd only played Carmen Sandiego titles at school or friends' houses and loved them. The thing is, this boss only had the three data floppies and none of the other materials. What I didn't know at the time was that Where in America's Past is Carmen Sandiego? (and possibly every installment in the series?) came with an absolutely giant paperback which is used as reference material for researching and figuring out the clues you're given as you scoot around history.

At first this was fine, because I carried our entire Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia downstairs from my bedroom to the living room for easy access while I was playing. Yes, this is actually how I played the game back then: I looked up the clues in the giant encyclopedia set we were so fortunate to have. I did all right this way even though it was pretty slow going, and even got far enough to earn at least one or two promotions. But of course, like every other game of this time period, there was copy protection -- and here was the rub. Before any of your promotions are finalized, you have to answer a specific question that instructs you to look up the answer on a specific page of the reference book that came with the game. I had no idea what book they were referring to. I'm certain my mom and I even tried looking it up at the local library in our desperation. Well, we managed to get lucky with at least one of these checkpoints, but beyond that, I was stuck and couldn't progress.

What I can't remember is if the floppies I have are the same floppies from back then. I eventually bought a version of the game off eBay maybe five or so years ago that, when new, came with both 3.5" and 5.25" disks -- but I'm wondering if I purchased a copy that had everything but the 3.5" disks, making it extra cheap. I'm thinking that's probably right, because I can't imagine I'd've chucked those original floppies.

Anyway, in conclusion, the game is way smoother with the reference book, which in itself is a feat. I'm not actually sure if it was created specifically for the game or if it already existed and was folded into the whole situation, but dang. It's jam packed. I'm making a point of reading around and trying to retain some of the trivia instead of just finding answers for the sake of it, and I'm also trying to use the game to strengthen my memory of the locations of the 50 states (I have always been terrible at geography due to my abysmal visual memory). So who knows! Maybe I'll wind up improving myself as a person during this Summer Challenge. Video games are good for you!

[lordb0rb4]

I'm kinda sad to say this but i think i'm definetivelly getting old and my patience isn't what used to be, Castlevania Chronicles and Contra Shaterred are SO frustrating that i'm strongly considering giving up on the challenge all together.
I'm still having a blast with Gauntlet Dark Legacy but those 2 above and Carmageddon with it's massive pointless grinding is seriously draging my fun down...
: (

Mind you i'm 30 years old now and gaming has been more than a hobby for me my whole life but man, those hard games ain't for me anymore.

[Nert]

I'm kinda sad to say this but i think i'm definetivelly getting old and my patience isn't what used to be, Castlevania Chronicles and Contra Shaterred are SO frustrating that i'm strongly considering giving up on the challenge all together.
I'm still having a blast with Gauntlet Dark Legacy but those 2 above and Carmageddon with it's massive pointless grinding is seriously draging my fun down...
: (

Mind you i'm 30 years old now and gaming has been more than a hobby for me my whole life but man, those hard games ain't for me anymore.

That's rough, I am the exact opposite. When I was young I would get too frustrated by difficulty, now that I'm older I wanna show those games who's boss

Though I barely played SNES before getting into N64 as a kid and I'd argue that's when games started getting easier

[ESauced]

I started Panzer Dragoon Zwei last night. I initially was playing with the 3d controller but was running into a glitch where the berserk kept auto-activating, so I had to use the d-pad. I looked it up and with analog mode on you have to disable berserk on the x button. Weird glitch. I'm going to change the options and play in analog mode next time.

Anyway, I got to level 5. I'm very bad at this game. I was bad at Orta too but it had easy mode. I was able to squeak by the first few stages without dying, and did level 4 in two tries, but Level 5 I'm getting just destroyed by the first enemy; I'm losing half my health on it. I'm hoping I'll have an easier time with the analog stick (or analog ball, whatever you call it on Saturn). The game is a lot of fun, and definitely one of the best looking 3d saturn games around. I'm hoping I can actually get good enough to beat it.

[Sarge]

I go through alternating periods of wanting to best really, really hard games and steering clear of them. I will sometimes get stressed out even thinking about it.

Then, on a whim, I'll give something tough a go, like Battletoads or Holy Diver. Or replay something to see if I can still pull it off, like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! Recently, I felt the push to beat Contra: Hard Corps.

I'm still avoiding Shattered Soldier, though.

[lordb0rb4]

Yah, i'm going to cool down a bit and return soon to it.

[lordb0rb4]

Yesterday something awesome happened, after failing for more than 1 hour at the she-wolf boss on Castlevania Chronicles, my wife, who was watching netflix on her phone, stopped and asked me what game that was and why it was taking me so long to get pass that stage, after telling her of the game's brutal dificulty she said she would watch me play instead.
And i think it was just what i needed, i nailed every move and defeated the boss without much trouble, it was magical!

EDIT:

I DID IT I DID IIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTtttttttttttttttttttttttt

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, one of the hardest games i've ever played for sure.
After everything i think it is an amazing game overall and a great Castlevania too, but i admit that if not by the herb subweapon i think it'd take a lot more time to finish it.
Dracula wasn't hard after you know it's pattern but idefinitely recommend playing Castlevania Chronicles on arranged mode as i did, the easy and 5 lives option is a great time safer too and if i have realized it before finishing it, i would have played it on easy without doubt.

01.Max Payne (Playstation 4) - 05/13/2018
+B.Castlevania: Chronicles (Playstation 1) - 05/31/2018
02.Carmageddon (PC)
04.Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (GameCube)
05.Red Faction (Playstation 4)
03.Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution (Playstation 2)
06.Contra: Shattered Soldier (Playstation 2)
07.Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (Playstation 2)
08.Diablo II (PC)
09.Max Payne 2 (PC)
10. MAFIA (PC)

+A.MegaMan X4 (Playstation 1)
+C.Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (PC)

On the sidenote, i think Mafia (2002) is going to be my 10th game now, i have this "competition" between a friend of mine where every month we pick 2 classic games that we have not played yet and see if we can finish them, i've finished the first half of the game and i think it is one of the most impressive games of the early 2000's.

[alienjesus]

I finally started up my challenge today, beginning with some Resident Evil.

I had a fairly tough time at the start, beginning with trying to figure out what difficulty was what. Instead of saying 'easy, normal, hard' it asked me if I like my games like an easy walk, a vigorous hike or a challenging mountain climb. I went with mountain climb after online research confirmed to me that this is in fact 'normal' difficulty.

I did then wonder if I'd been misled as I died very quickly in the early game to only 2 Zombie bites (I'm playing as Jill btw) but I perservered and got better at mashing the buttons and stick to escape zombie bites.

So far I've explored the mansion enough to find the storage boxes in the east and west wings of the first floor. I've also acquired a map of the 1st and 2nd floors, a blue jewel, a sword key, some kind of shield crest, a lighter, a shotgun and a dog whistle. I almost became a Jill sandwich.

I'm looking for some masks or something at this point to open a coffin, and also where to use all the items I currently have. I also need some kind of key shaped item to replace a key I've found which springs a death trap when grabbed.

I'm enjoying the game OK so far, but I'm not sure I'm very good at it. I'm saving my limited shotgun shells right now, and I've got about 27 handgun bullets. I'm out of defensive weapons entirely.

I've only killed about 6 zombies so far, and of those I've decapitated 1 and burned 4, so hopefully not too many crimson heads in my future.

[MrPopo]

So I'd actually recommend you use the shotgun now; you will get better weapons for the more dangerous stuff later, and the shotgun is a fantastic decap weapon. Aim up and when a zombie gets close fire and it is almost guaranteed to decap.